After a stressful day in which the Everyone Active Shettleston Harriers Open Graded Meeting was only confirmed at 2.45pm that is was going ahead, we were serve a delightful action of club athletics at Crownpoint. The previous day a major failure of power and the water supply meant Glasgow Life pulled out all the stops to repair and restore all the necessary utilities for the event. The club is very grateful to all involved in the work around this.
The main events of the open graded meeting, supported by Everyone Active ,SlipStream Media and Raymond Loughran were our two Memorial races on Night 2.The previous week 16 young athletes had battled to make the respect finals of the Derek McLean and Adrian Callan Races. The busy track was not disappointed in the great races which they saw on Tuesday.
The Derek McLean race has been run since 1989. Some of the winners have went on to have successful careers as senior and also some of the finalist who did not make the podium such as Neil Gourlay have also went on to very successful careers .We were delighted to see Derek’s Mum and Dad who came along to watch and helped present the awards along with Ruaridh Brown ,who represented SlipStream Media. The 2024 winner was the current Scottish 800m Champion, Cameron Chambers , Law, who added the Mclean Trophy to his collect in a time of 2.05.16. Just behind him a battle for the minor places took place with Ruaridh Laing ,VP Glasgow 2nd 2.05.65 ,Cameron Mitchell,Giffnock,2.05.66 3rd and Luke Sedman ,Falkirk VH ,2.05.86 just missing out in 4th. All the finalist received a special tee shirt and socks to recognise making the final. It was great to see such a spread of clubs in the final and we want to thank all the athletes and parents both in the heats and final for making the effort to travel to a midweek event.
This was the 3rd year of the Adrian Callan race for U/15 girls and again it was great to see such a great turnout and an exciting final. Adrian’s Mum ,Wife, Daughters ,Sister and Brother all attended the event along with other family members. Many of Adrian’s club mates from Shettleston and Springburn Harriers were also there to remember a special friend and a great athlete. Freya Brown, Lasswade AC, was a clear winner in 2.15.4 running one of the fastest time for a U/15 girl in Scotland this year with Autumn Hunter ,VP Glasgow, taking 2nd in 2.17.30.The 3rd place could not have been any closer with Millie Ovens, Pitreavie, and Rachel Cave ,Harmeny AC, both given the same time of 2.17.82. Fantastic running from all these of girls in the final. Adrian’s sister Julie made the presentation of the Callan trophy on behalf of the family .Again all the finalists received a special tee shirt and socks.
Other notable performances during the evening included a sprint double for Lochlan Steele ,Inverclyde AC, 11.25/22.67 .An excellent time of 49.32 for Calum Mackenzie ,Cumbernauld AC, over 400m and a win for Jamie Burns of Shettleston in the 5000m in a time of 14.42.45.It is not often we see a sub 3.50 for a 1500m in Scotland but Gavin Smith ,Cambuslang H, ran 3.49.35.The best time ever run for the 1500m at our open graded meeting which has run for over 40 years was Adrian Callan back in 1986 when he ran 3.42. A fantastic run from this talented athlete.
The club would like to thank ,Everyone Active ,SlipStream Media and Raymond Loughran for their support in making our meetings a success. Graeme Brown for providing fantastic images of the event and all the officials who worked so hard over the two evenings. It is a real team effort with the club working with our partners to provide an event everyone enjoys.